UNIONS have welcomed news that Dorset healthcare chiefs have pulled out of a pay consortium.

The Royal College of Nursing and Unison praised the move that ends the involvement of Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust (DHUFT) with the South West Pay, Terms and Conditions Consortium.

DHUFT is the fifth NHS Trust in the south west to move away from the pay cartel, and announced its decision shortly after the trust board at the Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said it would have no part in the future work of the consortium.

Both the RCN and UNISON have run campaigns opposing the plans, which introduced a regional pay system for Dorset County Hospital workers.

The consortium was designed to fix pay, terms and conditions and to create a regional pay system.

Jeannett Martin, regional director of RCN South West, said regional pay systems are not only unfair for staff, they are also costly and complicated to implement.

She added: “A quarter of those NHS trusts who originally joined the pay cartel have now made a commitment to their staff that they will not re-engage with the work of the pay cartel in the future and that they will work in partnership with staff to meet the financial challenge.

“The RCN urges the remaining employers to follow the lead of these five trusts and confirm to their staff that they will not return to a local pay cartel if it re-emerges in future.

“This will be a first step in rebuilding staff trust and confidence.”

Trusts that joined the cartel committed £10,000 each with 15 of the 20 trusts in the south west signing up to it.

Jonathan Walsh, DHUFT chairman, said ‘the trust did not want to offer a service which they were not proud of and that they had taken on board what staff had been saying.

Michael Cracknell, Uni-son south west regional organiser, said the union is delighted with the announcement that the trust would not be continuing with the consortium.

He said: “This is good news for the staff, our members, patients in Dorset and the future of the NHS across the south west, not to mention our ongoing campaign against the remainder of the Cartel.

“We now look forward to working closer with DHUFT and the other staff unions in making sure that they provide a service they can be proud of in Dorset.”

Last year staff at Dorset County Hospital confronted bosses over the decision to join the pay cartel.

Around 50 protestors met board members arriving at their monthly meeting.

Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Dorset County Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust each issued statements to their staff confirming that their involvement in the current work of the cartel has concluded.

The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch NHS Foundation Trust left the cartel in November.

* COLIN Hague, director of human resources for Dorset HealthCare, said: “Following our bi-monthly board meeting today, the trust has decided that continuing association with the consortium is no longer appropriate and we will be withdrawing with immediate effect.

“Dorset HealthCare values its staff and remains committed to working positively with trade unions to help ensure conditions of service are fit for purpose to help protect trust services and security of jobs as far as we reasonably can, within the trust and the NHS.”

Mark Power, director of workforce and human resources for Dorset County Hospital Foundation Trust, said the consortium had completed the work it was going to do and the trust would not seek to join a reformed consortium.